Teaching The Wave

Instructions for You

Objective: The point of Ben's well-meaning, but terribly disastrous, experiment is to emulate the way the Nazis were able to attract and control their members so his students would be able to better understand how the Holocaust happened. In this unit-long activity, your students will list, discuss, and analyze the parallels between the Nazis and The Wave throughout the book.

We'd recommend introducing this activity around Chapter 4 or 5, when Ben first comes up with and begins to implement The Wave. After you explain the assignment and begin it as a class, students can continue working on this it for homework with their reading each night—you can check in with their progress in class every so often.

This is a great assignment for those of you with a mix of kids in your classes (which we're guessing is most of you) because anyone can contribute, and you'll get a great range of observations, from literal parallels (Nazi swastika = Wave symbol) to parallels that show deeper analysis and thinking (Principal Owens = countries that appeased Hitler since Owens never actually blows the whistle on Ben). See? Fun for all. If fun is a word you can use to describe anything related to this book…

Materials Needed: Copies of The Wave; paper and pens; general knowledge of World War II and the Holocaust (check out our guide for a refresher)

Step 1: Ben thinks of The Wave and starts to implement it in his classroom around Chapters 4 and 5. To make sure all of your students understand what's going on in the book so far, discuss the following:

• What is Ben's purpose for doing The Wave in class?
• What is The Wave? 
• What does The Wave have to do with the Nazis and the Holocaust?

Step 2: Explain to students that they will be adding to their answers about The Wave's connection to the Nazis and the Holocaust as they read, finding more parallels as they go along. You may want to provide a t-chart to help facilitate this activity with one side labeled "Nazis" and the other side labeled "The Wave." Start the chart together by providing an example from the beginning of the book, such as the fact that each group has a symbol: the swastika for the Nazis and a wave in a circle for The Wave.

Depending on the amount of background knowledge your students have and what you've covered in class so far, this would be a good time to go over Nazi and Holocaust basics as well. Remember, your students won't be able to find parallels if they've slept through World History.

Step 3: Check in every so often as a class to see how your students' lists are progressing. Ask for volunteers to share any parallels they have found and keep a running list on the board or on poster paper. Doing this will help students who feel lost by frequently providing them with examples, which may in turn help them discover more connections during their own reading. It's also helpful to have class checkpoints because not all students will catch every parallel, so keeping the ideas flowing in class will lead to a richer understanding of the book for all students as they continue to read.

Step 4: After you've finished the book and have completed your class's list of parallels, pose the following questions to students:

• Do you think that comparing the Nazi Third Reich to The Wave Movement is a fair comparison? Are the two similar enough to compare?
• Do you think that The Wave experiment is a success? Does Ben accomplish what he sets out to do?
• If you were a teacher, would you do The Wave or something similar to it? Why or why not? If so, would you make any changes to it? If not, can you think of a better (safer and/or more effective) way to accomplish the same goals?

Ask students to cite specific examples from The Wave and/or the Nazis' rise to power in their answers. We'd suggest giving them time to write out their answers first so they can collect their thoughts, then discuss as a class. We think these questions would also work very well as short essay questions if you'd like to turn this into a culminating assignment of some sort.

Instructions for Your Students

In Chapter 5 of The Wave, everything starts to heat up in Ben Ross' class. The Wave—or perhaps more appropriately, The Tsunami—is about to begin, and once it starts, there's no telling what'll happen next. This activity will make sure you don't get caught in the undertow by helping you see the connections between the Nazis and The Wave throughout the book. Consider yourself warned, though: It's pretty frightening stuff.

Step 1: Before things get crazy around here, let's make sure everyone's on the same page. Please answer the following questions based on what you've read so far:

• What is Ben's purpose for doing The Wave in class?
• What is The Wave? (No, not that wave, so put your hands down.)
• What does The Wave have to do with the Nazis and the Holocaust?

Step 2: Okay, we understand that you probably don't have too much written down for the third question yet—but trust us, by the end of the book, you will. As you read and find more parallels between the Nazis and The Wave, add them to your list. In fact, before you read, get out your list every time so you're ready to jot down observations as you go.

If you haven't paid attention in history class lately (or ever), you may need a refresher course on World War II/the Holocaust in order to find parallels between history and The Wave. Never fear, Shmoop is here—check out our handy dandy guide.

Step 3: Every so often, your teacher will check in with you to see how your lists are progressing. (Translation: Don't slack off, and keep those lists growing.) As a class, you'll keep a running list of parallels that you find. If a classmate finds one you didn't, write it down—teamwork is a beautiful thing.

Step 4: At this point, you've finished the book and completed your class list of parallels, so it's time to set your mind to some closing questions. Please take some time to think about your answers and write them down. These are toughies—no multiple-choice questions here:

• Do you think that comparing the Nazi Third Reich to The Wave Movement is a fair comparison? Are the two similar enough to compare?
• Do you think that The Wave experiment is a success? Does Ben accomplish what he sets out to do?
• If you were a teacher, would you do The Wave or something similar to it? Why or why not? If so, would you make any changes to it? If not, can you think of a better (safer and/or more effective) way to accomplish the same goals?

Make sure to cite specific examples from The Wave and/or the Nazis' rise to power in your answers, and be ready to share your insights with the class. Don't worry if what you come up with differs from your classmates' responses: This isn't The Wave here, and we love a good debate.